Despite doubling patrols, setting up security checkpoints, and establishing curfews, she was unable to discover the whereabouts of the cell. In response, the Emporer dispatched his chief enforcer, the Sith LordDarth Vader, to deal with the situation. Having failed the Grand Moff, she was summoned to meet with him in person the next day to atone for her failure. Fearing for her life, she chose to side with the Spectres and managed to contact the cell and arrange for passage off of Lothal, in exchange for a list of rebel sympathizers on Lothal and its neighboring systems, and information regarding the Empire's true mission on Lothal. Vader, however, suspected she would run, and decided to use her to draw out the rebels and lead them to the larger rebellion. Kallus, an agent of the Imperial Security Bureau, programmed a spy droid to shadow the minister, and then personally escort her to her shuttle for her meeting with Tarkin. However, the cell attacked the shuttle that day, and Ezra ordered Tua to board the ship, telling her that he and his companions would be right behind her. As she entered the trooper compartment, the vehicle exploded, killing the minister.

The Empire framed the rebels for Tua's assassination using footage that the spy droid the took of the attack, when it was in fact them who rigged the shuttle to explode. The populace having been turned against them, the rebels fled Lothal with a transmitter aboard their ship, leading Vader and two Imperial-class Star Destroyer to the rebels and an affiliated cell.

Contents

A humanfemale, Maketh Tua hailed from the world of Lothal, a backwater planet situated in the Outer Rim Territories of the galaxy. In her youth, Tua attended one of the many Imperial academies that were established by the Galactic Empire under the rule of EmperorSheev Palpatine at the end of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY. By joining the Empire's educational program, the Lothalite hoped she could trade the dull existence of her homeworld for a more glorious life. During her academy days, Tua proved to be a fast learner, and she notably took her level 5 exams and managed to pass each and every trial. After graduating from the academy, Tua promptly joined the Empire, and would later come to serve under GovernorArihnda Pryce, who ruled Lothal in the name of Emperor Palpatine. As a minister of Lothal, Tua played a key role in the planet's affiliation with the Empire. One of her initial actions as minister was bringing new government-sponsored housing to Lothal. These homes were reasonably affordable for the planet that helped the growing population. Later, she attended the going-away party of Dhara Leonis, who had been accepted to the Imperial Academy on Lothal. During the event, Tua and Leonis had a conversation.

Since Tua was not fluent in Aqualish, she had brought C-3PO along, due to his vast knowledge of languages. When another passenger, Ezra Bridger, and his astromech started causing a disturbance and Kanan Jarrus complained to the shuttle's pilot, RX-24, the pilot sent all of the droid passengers, including C-3PO, to the back of the shuttle, as per Imperial regulations. Without her protocol droid to translate, Tua was incapable of communicating with her business partner. It was then that Sabine Wren, undercover as a "level five Imperial Academy student", convinced Tua to allow her to translate for Wabo. In typical rebel fashion, Sabine used Wabo's information in order to steal the weapons, while giving Tua misinformation, tricking her into heading to Bay 17.

Upon the arrival of Tua and her companions at Bay 17, Tua discovered that Sabine had mistranslated Wabo's words and that the disruptors were actually in Bay 7. As Tua, Wabo and their stormtrooper escort made their way there, they were accosted by Chopper. Recognizing the orange astromech, Tua quickly realized she had been tricked and ordered all her men to Bay 7 as fast as they could. There they found the rebels loading the weapons onto their ship. A firefight ensued between the two factions and the rebels escaped on the Ghost with the T-7's. Soon after this event, Tua contacted AgentKallus. The rebels were eventually confirmed to be the same ones that Kallus has faced not long ago, on the planet Kessel.

Minister Tua was present at the Empire Day parade where she stood in for Governor Arihnda Pryce, who was called to Coruscant at the command of the Emperor. During the celebration, Tua stood beside CommandantAresko, who commented on Pryce's decision to choose to him to organize what he believed to be a "spectacle", to which the minister took offense. Tua then turned to address the crowd and introduced the citizens to the new TIE Advanced V1 prototype which was to be piloted by Baron Valen Rudor. As she was speaking, the TIE was destroyed by the Lothal rebels. Tua was angered by this and wanted the rebels to be punished for ruining Empire Day. Agent Kallus assured her they would deal with the rebels, but their priority was locating the RodianTseebo, who had stolen Imperial secrets. Unfortunately for the Empire, however, both the rebels and the Rodian managed to flee the planet.

Tua later broadcasted over Lothal, labeling the rebels insurgents before her transmission was hijacked by Senator-in-exile Gall Trayvis, urging the Lothal rebels to meet with him. In reality, Trayvis was secretly an Imperial agent tasked with luring out dissidents to be met with "accidents". Tua later met with Agent Kallus, asking for his assurances that the trap they were laying for the rebels at the Old Republic Senate Building would work. She then tried to stress the Inquisitor's desire to see the Jedi captured. Kallus stated that the Inquisitor was too focused on capturing the Jedi and stated that by targeting the rebels as a group, they would be able to get the Jedi for him.

When the rebels arrived to meet Trayvis, Kallus and his stormtroopers surrounded them. Tua entered the building soon after, noting that Zeb and Sabine were absent. The two rebels soon revealed themselves in the rafters, dropping smoke bombs, which created enough confusion to allow the rebels to flee with Trayvis. Tua hid underneath a desk during the commotion. When the smoke had settled, she started yelling at Kallus to pursue the rebels. But once again, the rebels managed to elude them after discovering Trayvis' true loyalties.

Following the latest failed attempt to stop the rebel cell, Grand MoffTarkin arrived on Lothal to take charge. Tua personally greeted the governor in the hangar of the Imperial Headquarters, and nervously expressed her pleasure and surprise to have him on Lothal. Tarkin quickly admonished her for failing in her task to protect the Empire's industrial interest and allowing the rebels to flourish under her nose. Tua couldn't manage a retort and merely choked out an awkward cough of agreement with Tarkin's assessment of her. She was not alone in this humiliation as Tarkin proceeded to mock Kallus and the Inquisitor as well.

Some time later she, Kallus and the Inquisitor were summoned to Tarkin's office and stood at attention behind him as Commandant Aresko and Taskmaster Grint arrived. Tarkin questioned the two on their ineffective methods and consistant lack of results, going so far as to suggest their failures could inspire hope in the public and undermine the security of the entire Empire. Tua looked on in horror and disgust as Tarkin had the two men executed to serve as a warning to her and the others.

After the incident on Mustafar, Tua spent most of her time to exhaust every resource in finding information about the rebels of Lothal, but with no success while she employed such tactics as doubling patrols, set up checkpoints, and establishing curfews, all of which failed to produce results. After the arrival of Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith and the the Emperor Palpatine's top enforcer and apprentice, Tua was used as a pawn in his plan to incriminate the rebels.

Inside her headquarters, she and Agent Kallus discuss the steps that the Minister was taking in order for the planetary government to locate the rebels. She correctly believed that the rebels have already left Lothal and that such draconian measures would not be effective. That was when their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Vader, who tells her that if the rebels had left Lothal then they need to be drawn back so the Empire could find them. Tua expressed her reservations and countered the Sith Lord's accusation by claiming that he and Tarkin were expecting miracles. However, when Vader announced his plans to employ more brutal tactics, Tua objected to this since she was a mere public official until the Dark Lord tells her that she can relay her concerns to Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, Governor of the Outer Rim Territories, who has commanded her to visit him and account for her failures. Maketh was frightened and feared that she would be executed.

Minister Tua contacts the Rebel Network and asked for assistance in defecting from the Empire and joining the Rebellion.

Tua apparently discovered the Emperor's true intentions for Lothal which pushed her over the edge. Now both appalled by Vader and Tarkin's intentions and fearing for her life, she resolved to defect from the Empire. She traveled to Old Jho's Pit Stop and sought the help of Old Jho, who put her in contact with the rebels. In exchange for safely transporting her off Lothal, she offered secret Imperial information, including the names of rebel sympathizers on Lothal and nearby star systems, as well as intelligence regarding the Empire's true mission on Lothal, a mission ordered by the Emperor himself. Some of the rebels disagreed as to whether they should undertake the mission in rescuing her, but Ezra Bridger, Jarrus' Padawan, insisted that they help her.

Unfortunately for Tua, Vader had threatened her life and knew that she would attempt to defect. As the rebels prepare for their operation to return to Lothal, Tua leaves her office in the Imperial Complex of Capital City, and made her attempt to covertly sneak out of the headquarters with the list, but she didn't realize that Agent Kallus, who had already suspected her treason, ordered a probe droid to follow her and record her movements. Once the Rebels arrived and set up their plan, Tua soon arrived along with Kallus, who was ordered by Vader to escort her to the shuttle in the interest of her safety, the rebels, including Kanan who had disguised himself as a Stormtrooper Commander to get past security, attacked the Imperial troops and Tua runs for the shuttle, followed close behind by the rebels. Once she was aboard, the shuttle, which unbeknownst to her, had been rigged to explode. Tua was killed in the blast and Kallus, whose probe droid was recording the entire incident, accused the rebels of killing the minister.

Following her assassination at the hands of Darth Vader, the Empire used footage of the attack recorded on the spy droid to incriminate the rebels as her killers, turning the citizen of Lothal against them. Soon after, journalistAlton Kastle covered the falsified story of her demise on the HoloNet News. The rebels fled Lothal aboard an Imperial shuttle, which was secretly fitted with a transceiver, leading Lord Vader and two Imperial-class Star Destroyer to the location of an affiliated cell.

Maketh Tua could be described as product of imperial propaganda, and believed the Empire and her own intentions were in the people's best interests. Having studied abroad on worlds more cosmopolitan than her native Lothal, Maketh Tua considered herself above the people of a "barely civilized Outer Rim world." She enjoyed the refined conversation of fellow intellectuals, and resented having to deal with unsavory types like Commandant Cumberlayne Aresko in the course of her duties as an Imperial public servant. Minister Tua was a loyal servant of the Empire and a graduate of the Imperial Academy. She followed the will of Emperor Palpatine, which brought her into contact with Agent Kallus and made her a recurring enemy of the Lothal rebels. Unlike other Imperials, she served the Empire out of a sense of belief in its ideas and a desire to spread law and order rather than her own personal ambitions, which set her apart from the Empire's servants such Agent Kallus, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, and The Inquisitor. Unlike her Imperial colleagues, Tua was not known to use her position as Minister to vent sadistic or even sycophantic urges, but was nonetheless an ineffectual leader.

Unlike other Imperial officials, Maketh Tua appeared to care for the common people and used her position to introduce government sponsored housing. Tua threw a celebration on Empire Day to rally support for the Empire's goals on Lothal and reassure the citizens of their importance to the Empire. While she often appeared cold and authoritative she was also friendly, as shown during an encounter with Sabine Wren, a rebel posing as a "level five Imperial Academy student". However, she was capable of bending laws and participating in underhanded actions if it served the Empire's interests. For example, she was willing to mass produce T-7 ion disruptors on the orders of the Empire, despite knowing that they had been outlawed by the Imperial Senate. In addition, Tua also had a short temper. However, Maketh Tua rarely displayed any sign of weakness, even in the intimidating presence of the Inquisitor. Her confident bravado was only diminished by Grand Moff Tarkin, who publicly lambasted her failings and threatened her career in the Empire's service. Tua was also visibly horrified and shaken by the summary execution of Aresko and Grint at the hands of the Inquisitor. She would soon reveal her true colors when her superiors shattered her belief in the Empire's supposed good intentions. First witnessing the execution of Aresko and Grint horrified her, and later being ordered to employ brutal tactics against her own people and morally objecting to the Emperor's true plans for Lothal, all aiding in her choice to aid the rebels.